The present invention relates to cooking appliances in which food articles are cooked between cooking surfaces of two cooking plates. The invention is particularly useful in grilling appliances for grilling meat, and is therefore described below with respect to this application.
Many different types of electrical grilling appliances have been developed and are described in the patent literature, as shown, for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,181,455, 5,606,905, 6,016,741 and 6,192,788. However, efforts are continuously being made for health reasons to more efficiently remove grease and other fluids emanating from the food article during its grilling, and/or for reducing the grilling time, as well as for more conveniently controlling the grilling process.